Atlas Copco helping Shanghai's roads

A fleet of Atlas Copco portable compressors and generators are being used to help upgrade Shanghai's roads and other infrastructure in the run-up to the Shanghai World Exposition in 2010.

The World Expo, an event designed to showcase China's economic progress, is expected to attract 70 million visitors from home and abroad with 200 nations and international organisations expected to take part.

As part of the Expo infrastructure programme and to help with the high demand for water during the summer, Shanghai Water Construction & Engineering Co has used Atlas Copco XAS 77 and XAS96 portable compressors to provide air to road breakers and trench digging equipment in an eight-month water pipeline installation project.

The XAS 77, an oil-injected rotary screw compressor, produces 72 l/second at a pressure of 7 bar.

The contractor is also using an Atlas Copco QAS 78 skid-mounted generating set on an almost continuous basis to power dewatering pumps to remove groundwater out of the main, 3 to 5 m wide trench, which varies in depth between 8 and 10 m.

The QAS range, especially designed for use in residential areas and in locations where low noise is required, is equipped with foam-lined canopies and sound-reducing features, Atlas Copco said.

Elsewhere in the city, Shanghai New Hong Kou Municipal Construction Co is using two Atlas Copco XAS 97 compressors during the widening of the Yan Shu Pu Road, one of the 11 new or upgraded roads being built in preparation for the World Expo; and forming part of a bigger scheme covering 30 roads in total.

The XAS 97 is a single-axle oil-injected rotary screw compressor producing 89 litres per second of air at 7 bar, and particularly suitable for powering road breakers and pneumatic tools, the main task for these two units, Atlas Copco stated.

Overall construction of the CNY 30 billion (US$ 3.62 billion) 5.28 km² Expo site in Pudong is scheduled to be completed by 2009.